Sending gift money from Greece to my sibling in Switzerland

Taxes
1

Hi everyone, we are a little bit confused.

I (A) work in Greece and I am a tax resident in Greece.

My sibling (B) works in Switzerland and is a tax resident in Switzerland - Kanton Zurich.

Sending money to my sibling in Greece is taxed 10-20%.
In Switzerland, I see it depends per Kanton but there is also no gift tax on a federal level.

  1. Would sending them money be taxed (40.000cfh) ?
  2. Which framework would apply, the Greek or the Swiss, or none?
  3. Someone suggested to me that I send him crypto instead to bypass any possible taxations, would that be legal? Greece has a capital gains tax of 15% and Switzerland of 0%. What happens when you send crypto away though as there is no gain? Does it simply vanish?
2

Kantons can levy gift taxes only on gifts in the following scenarios:

  • The donor is resident in that Kanton
  • The gift is real estate located in that Kanton

Since you are not a Swiss resident and you are donating cash, the situation you described has no Swiss tax implications

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3

Thanks a lot. So any sort of money arriving to Switzerland from anywhere is simply tax free and no questions asked?

In which case, we are left to verify how the situation is on the Greek side, correct?

4

Questions can be asked :slight_smile: For example to ensure that the money is not income that is avoiding income tax, but if the money is a gift, it is indeed tax free. If your sibling files taxes, in the next year taxes they will need to include it in their tax declaration - but it will be a mere FYI to explain the increase in wealth

For Zurich specifically you can see here: Erbschafts- und Schenkungssteuer | Kanton ZĂĽrich

Yeah you should check what the tax implications are on the Greek side and potentially also both your citizenship countries (although I think in practice it matters only if you are US citizens - but don’t quote me on this)

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5

Thanks mate. Same applies for Physical Cash brought outside of Switzerland as far as I read (?).
One has to merely report it in their taxes (?).

6

No physical cash that stays your property is a matter of custom declaration, not tax.

7

I think these are separate questions. A gift is a gift with all tax implications regardless of whether it was a cash or electronic transfer.

And then there are regulations about carrying cash across borders. For what it’s worth, you don’t need to report any amount of cash from the Swiss perspective unless they find it on you and ask, see Cash, foreign currency, securities.

But you should check the regulations of other countries you are transiting through

8

Don’t forget the notice in the Greek airports that cash over 10,000 EUR needs to be declared at customs whether you fly in or out of the country. A google search told me that bringing cash into Switzerland is not an issue.

I don’t know how easy it is to do it by bank transfer from Greece, I’ve sent small amounts (ie 2500) to my Swiss account from my Greek account without issue but 40k is not trivial!

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